Financial Wake-Up Call 3-22-2007

A Refreshing Refusal: With all the greed we read about in regard to those leading companies, here is a hugely refreshing take on an executive that was supposed to receive $10 million under the company’s restructuring:

It is even more distasteful when insiders use the bankruptcy process to enrich themselves, as happened last year at United Airlines. Some 400 executives walked away with 8% of the newly reorganized company in the form of restricted shares worth about $ 400 million. (They originally wanted 15% of the company.) CEO Glenn Tilton, a relative newcomer to United and the airline industry, got shares worth more than $40 million. This bounty was made possible in part by pay cuts in the range of 10% that United workers had agreed to.

All of which is why the decision by Delta Air Lines CEO Gerald Grinstein to forgo the $10 million he would be due under a restructuring plan at his company is all the more commendable. Grinstein said Monday that his money should go to scholarships and hardship assistance for struggling employees and retirees.

10 Internet Businesses You Can Start with as Little as $100: So you want to start a business, but don’t want to spend a lot of money doing it. Here is a list of 10 businesses you can start for under $100 on the Internet. This is not even close to being exhaustive on the subject, but may spark a few ideas and that is always a good thing.